


Never Resist a Perfect Moment

by spilled_notes



Series: Mad March Prompt Challenge [5]
Category: Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-08
Updated: 2016-03-08
Packaged: 2018-05-25 13:30:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6196870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spilled_notes/pseuds/spilled_notes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the prompt 'cuddling in a blanket fort'.  It's difficult being both a teacher and Death's granddaughter, especially when you have to deal with Jason, the Death of Rats and that damn raven.  Susan has had a hard week, and Unity wants to help.  Set in an AU where Unity did not wish to die, and Susan finds herself the reluctant mentor to an almost human.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never Resist a Perfect Moment

Susan closed the front door and leaned against it for a moment, ignoring the indignant squawks from the other side.  Her hair sprang from its tight bun and took up its usual, dandelion-like ground state.

‘Ah Susan, you’re back.’

She turned to see a smiling Unity, and inwardly winced at her outfit: she may have largely given up wearing sequined evening dresses but the ex-Auditor's sense of colour coordination was still, well, non-existent.  Susan hung her cloak and followed her out of the hall.  And stopped dead.

‘What on Disc?’

‘You have had a difficult few weeks,’ Unity said by way of explanation, her smile becoming nervous.

‘Yes, but - ’

Susan stared.  Her usually neat room had been transformed.  The chairs were now arranged in a square (a perfect one, no doubt; Unity hadn’t shaken off _all_ her Auditor mannerisms, after all) and draped with throws to form –

‘A blanket fort?’ she said incredulously.

‘Apparently being surrounded by soft things often makes people feel better.  I admit to finding it somewhat comforting, although I do not understand why.  I also bought chocolates,’ Unity added, holding up a box of W&B’s most expensive offerings.  ‘There is no nougat, I checked.’

‘I thought you didn’t eat chocolate?’

‘I don’t.  But you do.  I was going to make tea but I know I still can’t get it quite right, so I thought it was safer to let you.’

 _Not quite right indeed,_ Susan thought as she put the kettle on to boil, remembering Unity’s last attempt.  Perhaps there were some things you just had to be human (or at least have grown up human) to do properly.

When she returned from the kitchen, Unity was sat on the cushions arranged under the blankets looking hopeful.

‘Oh, very well,’ Susan muttered, getting down on her knees to crawl inside the fort and feeling rather stupid.

Unity shuffled closer and put an arm around Susan, who stiffened.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Humans appear to derive comfort from physical contact.  In stories an embrace often serves this purpose.  Are you not comfortable with this, Susan?’

Susan considered.  Actually, when she thought about it, it was rather nice.  And she couldn’t remember the last time she had been hugged; she only had her Grandfather, after all, and skeletons weren’t exactly huggable.

She selected a chocolate from the box – a cherry crème, her fingers told her – and settled into Unity’s side.

‘It was unexpected, that’s all,’ she said, biting into the crisp shell and feeling the soft fondant centre melt on her tongue.

‘I did not understand touch before, Susan,’ Unity said softly.  ‘Humans spend so much time touching one another, but Auditors can only touch minds.  It is a very different sensation.’

Susan peeled the silver wrapper from a frosted caramel and popped it into her mouth.

‘I rather like it,’ Unity added.

Susan smiled and rested her head on Unity’s shoulder.  Never resist a perfect moment, Wen had told her.  At the end of a long day, with that blasted raven still insistently tapping on the window, this certainly came pretty close to being perfect.


End file.
